Greenpoint Library (Brooklyn, NY)

The original Carnegie Library was built in a Classical Revival style of brick with limestone trim and a stone balustrade at the roof. The Greenpoint Star praised it on April 14, 1906 for its “tasteful simplicity.” As Greenpoint became the center of a Polish community, English classes were offered and a well-stocked Polish book collection was acquired. The building, structurally unsafe, was demolished in 1970. In 1973 a new one-story library opened on the same site. Although not as grand as its predecessor, it provides the community with a resource for knowledge and a meeting place for a new generation of library users. A mural by artist Leslie A. Wood was painted onto the side of the building along Norman Ave. in 2013 thanks to the efforts of the Friends of the Greenpoint Library.